The Art of Phil Cheney

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When I was swimming in the ocean just a little while ago, a whole Thought Parade went clambering by in my mind, with an interesting beginning for this blog I have committed to publish each week, albeit a day late, now, for the second week in a row. This time last week I wrote about HOONs in the steadily falling snow, now here I am, way down in the Jungly Seaside Town of El Lago del Mar, which is located in Jalisco, Mexico.

To reach here, at last, to the Casa Hacienda, We had to come from Playa de los Muertos by Water Taxi. Playa de los Muertos is a grandeous future-primitive beach town with a large space-age-esque sail feature and a spiral pier built around it. On either side, a tan, sand beach stretches off into the haze of Cabanas and oiled bodies, in non-USA regulation swimming attire.

I’ve been keeping busy doing lots of drawings and helping to come up with funny tunes with my very talented Musical Friends down here. We’ve also done quite of a bit of exploring as it becomes an unfolding culinary and ARTs adventure series continuum… Yum! It pretty much just unfolds before Us, as is typically the case in my experience. The People that We meet and the conversations had and overheard, mix with the experience and come out as delightfully fresh-baked goodies.

There is some amazing Art here, as well. No one knows for sure, as these pieces were collected by the now-deceased Isabel, but they are some type of Native Ceremonial Arts, possibly psychedelic in Nature, they are depictions of naturally psychedelic situations, involving Shamans and Others, wearing fantastic head-gear.

I would like to stay here forever but this adventure doesn’t end here and I have so much further yet to travel. I will savor the experience for now and keep blending it up into my colorful stew.the Flower Trees, as well as the Hibiscus and the Bougainvillea, all match the colors of the House and the Sea. Here the Sea is aquamarine and blends with a lovely medium hue to reach the deep Sea blue that surrounds Us and appears to be bounded itself by enormous purple hazy Mountains, aiming at the Sky with their jagged peaks.

The Sea is so buoyant here, it is second only to the Dead Sea, or perhaps the Great Salt Lake (in that case third only). You can float straight-up, even if You’re bony, like Me. The soft toss of the gentle waves lands You right back up on the sandy beach, which massages Your body with soft extra-large grains of natural material (bits of sea shells and crabs and stuff).

This is an incredibly inspirational Creative Retreat, where I am left entirely to mySelf to decide how to bide my time. In between typing these paragraphs, I have been going up and down the four hundred or so sandy, stone steps, of varying heights and depths, all the way from here to the small beach below and back again, to take a shower with gas after swimming in the warm water and hopping up, up, up from the Sea.

I’ve left it until the end to explain the title of this particular posting. We met a Man on an ATV yesterday, which are an annoying addition to the tiny pathways, only slightly wider than an ATV, Who was wearing a shirt that said “Pollo Yo” and was exclaiming in Spanish about His restaurant and that We should come there, to eat, et cetera. He gave His card to the most Spanish Speaking member of Our Crew at that time, Ami Worthen. However, by the time We got to “Pollo Yo” (and not “Pollo Bollo” by the way, that’s on this side of Town), they had changed the name to “Pollo Pollo”…

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Deep in the Forest of Endless Anon live the HOONs of Yore. Long ago They traveled in vessels on currents of air to the densely forested woodlands they now call home. It’s a land filled with Bunnies and other Creatures, with soft, round tummies that are often fuzzy and they’re clothed-in wildly colored garments of an antique-future fashion.

Swinging and hanging on chairs and couches, out over such heights, that the mists obscure the bottom… Hey, can You spot ’em? The trees that live there have Stars on their leaves and wear woolly fur-lined dungarees. These special trees can move around to find the perfect patch of sunlight and then they dance all night by fire-light, in the Forest of Endless Anon and on and on.

The HOONs of Yore, are, in a nutshell, a Tiny Band of Woodland Creatures, lead by an Enchanted Porcupine King: GaLoobe de Jamune. Deep in the Forest of Endless Anon, there’s a Dance Party Thumpin’, it goes on and on.
GaLoobe de Jamune, the King of All HOONs and his special assistant Lou Blowie (aka Low Bluie), who collects prismatic light refracted off the wings of Dragonflies and thereby placing them in Jars, which, just like everything else, are adorned with Stars. Nicholas Wind-Ding Renfro and Ho Chee Ho, two of the newest Named HOONs to Go… HOON’s Eye Art and HOONs Yo-Yo!

Now way back when, there was a big ole Flood and GaLoobe de Jamune got washed out the door, along with the oven, piano and refrigerator, none of which were ever seen again, although it has been rumored that splinters from the piano were woven into day-glow gymnasium outfits for hours-after Jumping Jacks programs, often held behind steamed up windows and next-door to Noodle Bowl Establishments, or places that serve open-faced turkey and gravy sandwiches.

GaLoobe had an unique experience, possibly the only one of its kind, in which his Spirit was subject to a bifurcation and some large percentage of it went into the Forest of Endless Anon, where after a rather confusing conversation with Hula Gordon, the Head Honcho of Hoon Headquarters, who explained that GaLoobe de Jamune had been the King of ALL Hoons for many years, there, already.

And then, earlier this year, We received a very Special GaLoobe de Jamune MugMonster, who appeared to Us as the GaLoobe de Jamune Version Three point Oh. GaLoobe de Diversion point OH is a pure return to the Quilted Realm, from whence He emerged, full-size but not yet having spiritually bifurcated in the first place, it’s very Suri Nam de Plume-esque.

And We give extra Thanks Yous to the Instigator and the Dream Or Iggie Nator who got Him wrung right out of the Fabric of Space and also Time…

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The Art of DeWayne Barton is heavy both literally and figuratively but He has crafted it, as the truly talented and driven Ones do, in a way that will gently guide You and help You to open UP Your mind and Your heArt.

DeWayne Barton’s “The Art of Resilience” art opening, book release and poetry reading is this Friday, November 13, starting at 7 pm at the YMI Cultural Center, 39 South Market Street. (Stop by after the Asheville High School debate if you have plans to attend that.) I hope to see you there!

As you may know, Barton’s visual art focuses on justice issues for people and the planet, as well as strategies for creating vibrant, healthy, sustainable communities. The show will feature new sculptures. In addition, the event will be a book release and poetry reading for Barton’s second book, Return to Burton Street, which just came out on Black Mountain Press.

Most importantly, “The Art of Resilience” will launch Hood Huggers International, Barton’s new initiative which o​ffers innovative strategies for building support pillars for systemically marginalized neighborhoods, providing a framework for community capacity building while increasing the effectiveness of existing…

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from the edge of the Hedgerow, where entangled vines grow, hiding doorways to Magic Realms… I made these two Hallowe’en themed prints for Jenny Fares’ Halloween Poster ART Show, now ongoing at the Pulp Gallery and private club underneath the Orange Peel:

featuring the King of all HOONs GaLoobe de Vampir and spacial guests Squeen Jellyberg, the Rocket Bull (Holy Cow) and a little dancing Skelleton and also some Pumpkin headed Goblins throwin’ strawberrys…

and WoW, the Holy Cow sparked inspiration for this straight fromanother far-away land!

The conference, with was sponsored by UNC Asheville, the YMI Cultural Center, and others, offered our community a potent antidote to the invisibility of African Americans in this region. The talks refuted myths and illuminated new perspectives. The power of this cannot be underestimated. In an area where racial disparities in economics, health, education, criminal justice…

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I wanna head North again! Jason Krekel and I will be heading to Maine two weeks from to-day to begin the Lake-a-Day-Cycle for 2105 and to join the Blue Bunny ALL-Stars UP in Maine for Our annual REunion, there. This year marks the Cicada REunion, 17 years since We first joined the Blue Bunny (Abbott Vaughn Meader) and Tim Krekel in Maine for the Blue Bunny Grass Band Maine Tour and we are gonna keep it going, for at least one more year, so join US!

the Maine Tour of 1998, July 26th – August 8th.

the Cicada REunion POster for 2105.

it’s been 17 years since Jason Krekel, Ami Worthen, Cailen Campbell, Jay Sanders, Sarah Griscom and I (among others) joined Abbott Vaughn Meader and Tim Krekel UP in Maine for the Blue Bunny Grass Band Summer Tour.

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the title borrows a bit from Regina Spektor’s song “Jessica”, which is quite lovely to hear. We are into the second calendar month of the year 2015 now and I have been busy making drawings and preparing for an Art Show in Raleigh, NC in April at the Simkin Gallery there. I have been posting these drawings on a Secret Group Page on Facebook but as that one has an even smaller viewership than this blog, I thought I’d include a few here for You to see: